Moderator: Jane Glasby, Manager for the Blind and Print Disabled, San Francisco Public Library

Panelists in order of speaking

Peter McDonald, Dean of Library Services, Fresno State

"Manifest Destiny, the Morrill Act, and Maker-Spaces: Academic Libraries in the Service of Capital"
Abstract: McDonald presented a brief historical overview of how neoliberalism saturates the workings of the academy, with antecedents dating back to feudalism on through Manifest Destiny to the 'Free Markets' credo of today.

Mark Hudson, Head of Adult Services, Monroeville Public Library (PA)

"Community-Building vs. Customer-Driven Librarianship: Countering Neoliberal Ideology in Public Libraries"
Abstract: What concrete models of community-building librarianship do we have to counter the ideology of customer-driven 'business model' (neoliberal) librarianship in public libraries? How is a pervasive technocratic rationality deprofessionalizing librarianship by redefining librarians as technicians, away from our historic identities as educators and cultural workers?

John Buschman, Dean of University Libraries, Seton Hall University

"November 8, 2016, the Public, and Libraries"
Abstract: What, now, is the library in the life of its public(s)? How the public(s) that libraries face have changed in recent (neoliberal) times clarifies library responses within our current neoliberal environment.
John's recent article: "The Library in the Life of the Public: Implications of a Neoliberal Age" The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy 87, 1 (January 2017): 55-70.

"Efficiency or Jagged Edges: Resisting Neoliberal Logics of Assessment"
Abstract: Librarianship has been pervaded by a will to collect and assess data, often in an effort to prove our value and thereby escape austerity measures. Yet assessment is dominated by neoliberal logics that focus on efficiency. How might we reframe assessment so that it both effectively represents our work and resists neoliberalism?

Activities of interest at ALA

Bill McKibben: Imagining a World That Works — In Time to Prevent a World That Doesn't
Saturday, June 24
1:00-2:30 p.m.
McCormick Place, Room S102

Cited by the Boston Globe as "probably America's most important environmentalist," acclaimed environmentalist, activist, and author Bill McKibben delivered a talk titled "Imagining a World That Works — In Time to Prevent a World That Doesn't."

Bill McKibben has written over a dozen books including his 1989 book, The End of Nature, which is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and has appeared in 24 languages. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, McKibben was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world's 100 most important global thinkers.

A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors. In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat — Megophthalmidia mckibbeni — in his honor.

Because Libraries reach a large cross-section of the public, they are in a unique position to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the promotion of sustainable environments, social justice, and quality education. This program featured presentations and projects by librarians or professionals working outside the USA or involved in projects outside of the USA whose research, libraries, or projects are working to promote lifelong learning, provide inclusive and quality education for all, reduce inequality, promote just and inclusive societies, contribute to environmental sustainability, and more!